Benefits of Using a Time Clock at You Business

Why should you buy a time clock?

Time clocks provide a great way to show job costing, and help improve the accuracy of your payroll. Every company, from the small shop to the large business, needs to have accurate time records. These time records can prevent labor disputes and help improve your bottom line. Below are 5 examples why you need to have a time clock at your business.

1. Time Clocks Allow Precise Tracking of Hours

With no time clock, the employee is responsible to track their time.This method can easily be abused, and even if there is no time theft, the employee may incorrectly estimate hours worked. Estimating the beginning and end of break is where most mistakes occur, since most people take short breaks that are paid and longer breaks that are not. Without a time clock, figuring out which is which can lead to a lot of errors and cost a company thousands of dollars

2. Time Clocks Clearly Define When an Employee Begins and Ends Work

At one point or another, most employees find themselves heading out the door right when something requires their attention. Someone asks a question; some piece of equipment breaks; or an important client finally calls back. The employee can either stay late to deal with the issue, and possibly not get paid, or the employee can leave and risk being perceived as irresponsible. A time clock resolves the issue by making it clear whether or not the employee is actually still working during standard break or lunch times. Anyone who works overtime gets paid for it.

3. Time Clocks Make Payroll Processing Easier

The payroll clock records all payroll information and transmits it to a central file, eliminating transcription errors and delays. Not only does this reduce the workload for payroll staff who must physically do the transcribing with manual clocks, it reduces the hassle of dealing with employee complaints when errors in payroll do occur because of manual transcription. Digital transcription eliminates all these burdens.

4. Time Clocks Can Enforce Company Policy

Time clocks can be programmed with the schedule of each employee and can call a manager if an employee attempts to clock in late or if an employee has not taken a lunch by the end of an eight-hour shift. This helps managers discipline tardy employees and encourage hard workers to take breaks.

5. A Biometric Time Clock prevents "Buddy Punching"

RFID time clocks, pins, magnetic card swipes, can all be abused to allow another employee to punch in another employee. The time lost when another employee "buddy punches" another is around 10 minutes. This may seem like a small number, however, if you multiply the theft of 10 minutes by 5 days a week times 52 weeks this amount can easily be over tens of thousands of dollars. A biometric time clock stops this type of theft.

QuickBooks Compatible Time Clocks

Imagine reducing your payroll expense by 5% a year. Would you do it? Businesses with employees can expect to pay anywhere from 20 to 30% of their gross revenue to cover payroll expenses. It is easy to see how 5% would help reduce expenses.

How would you save 5%? Simply installing a time clock in your company. Want further savings? Make the clock a biometric time clock.  The reason is two fold. A time clock will ensure accurate time reporting. This means, if you have manual timesheets, that employees wont be able to "fudge" the hours. It is common to see employees add a few minutes to their timesheets or come back from lunch a little late but report that they arrived on time when they turn in their hours. 

Now that we see why a clock is very important controlling your payroll expenses, but how to choose a clock that is effective but affordable. 

Ideally the time clock would be able to export to your payroll processor of choice such as ADP, Paychex or QuickBooks. 

So which clocks would be ideal? 

I have used EC200 from Easy Clocking. It is an affordable biometric time clock. The system it comes with is basic software that allows you to export to excel files. The one clock we have has an additional fee you can export the punches directly into QuickBooks via IIF file. Basically for the price of the clock (found cheap in here) and the exporter which the vendors on amazon can sell to you. 

I will be producing YouTube videos about the clocks shortly, and if you have any questions, I can answer them for you.